Everton defender Luke Garbutt must pursue first-team football elsewhere, as club chase Kieran Tierney.
Everton defender Luke Garbutt was once deemed a bright prospect at Goodison Park, but he must surely now plot a permanent escape route this summer to help him pursue first-team football elsewhere.
The 25-year-old seems unlikely to be the long-term successor to Leighton Baines at left-back and failed to make a single senior appearances last season.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the Toffees are in a battle to sign left-sided flyer Kieran Tierney from Celtic, who is valued at around £25million.
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It is reported that Everton have resisted their interest in the Scotland international and are willing to battle clubs such as Tottenham to try secure the 21-year-old’s signature.
Tierney looks the perfect replacement for Baines in defence, but that leaves a huge dark cloud over the future of Garbutt.
Garbutt has been shipped out on loan at clubs such as Wigan, Fulham, Colchester and Cheltenham Town during his Everton career.
It may be time to accept that the left-back will never cut the grade at Goodison and the fact the Merseyside club seem intent on adding Tierney to the squad will only push him further down the pecking order.
The era of Marco Silva could start with a bang if they manage to capture highly-rated Celtic speed machine Tierney and offloading deadwood in the squad should also be a key goal of the new manager.
Garbutt is an attack-minded defender that could yet still carve out a decent career in the Championship and finding a new home should be his priority now.
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